Portland, Tennessee Blog

DeeAnne - My reference was to retail space that is not anchored by large businesses in what people classify as the Down Town district, perhaps a bit overstated but years ago this was the only business district of the town, many still look at it as Down Town. I believe that road front parking on main street if eliminated will hurt severely the businesses that are there and keep others from wanting to set up shop there. While I also believe that as future growth takes place on hwy 52 the old down town district will become somewhat obsolete with space taken up by lawyers, accountants, realtors, investment groups, and the like... Just my opinion

The majority of our retail space is not on Main St.......are you talking about the furniture store space ??

Portland is all up and down 109....the majority of business is out there...not on Main St.
All the food stores, drug stores, hardware stores, furniture stores,barber shops, beauty shops, movie stores, fitness centers,restaurants ( except two ),Freds, Dollar Stores,etc are all out on the 109 and 52.

I don't see much retail shopping being done on Main Street.

It would be nice if we had a downtown, but we really don't. We have one street that USED to be downtown. It's just not anymore.

DeeAnne - This is one time I disagree with some of what you said about Main Street. While I agree that 3 crossings so close together are unusual, making that street walking only would not be a wise decision. Having been a prior business owner on main street years ago, I know all too well how dependent the businesses are on the road front parking. I had a shop across from the hair salon and the owner of that business never never parked out back like she should of, instead she parked across the street in front of my store along with one or two of the other stylists, now keep in mind these cars would sit there all day, never moving, we/I had no available parking in front for customers and believe me it hurts, despite the fact that it was marked as 1 hour parking it happened every day and nothing was ever done about it no matter how much complaining you did. The rear parking lots are safe yes during the daylight hours, but lighting is an issue when days are short, and not all businesses have a back entrance that is suitable for customers to enter, most go into storage areas, or hallways to restrooms, etc. I believe on both sides there is overhangs and suitable walking area for anyone to walk from place to place, most go there for one particular reason wether it be the pool hall, restaurant, furniture store, florist or realtors office, not for multiple stops and is why the front parking is crucial.

I suggested to at the time Mayor Jenkins about making Main Street a one way street to allow for more parking on both sides instead of the way it used to be with parallel parking on one side and I am glad for the businesses that are still there that this has been done as there is more storefront parking now than before. As for delivery trucks, THEY are the ones that needs to be utilizing the rear parking areas.

Right now Main Street houses the majority of our Retail Space in this town, has the closing hurt the businesses? I'm sure it has, probably not tremendously because there is more than one way to get back out and still go down main street, but I'm sure it has made some second guess going down that street thus possibly loosing business. Just my Opinion!

"This is our Main Street, our downtown," Callis said. "The last thing we want to do is close that off."

Did you really say this ???

With safe parking lots on either side of Main St. and an alley to walk through....how can you say this has in anyway hurt " Main St."
With parking allowed on both sides of that street, it has become an overcrowded parking lot with all those big pickup trucks and SUVS that are always parked there.
When a delivery truck stops do deliver packeage, etc...it ties up the whole street.

Anyone reading that article that is not familiar with Portland would think that Main Steet was a critical area and it had caused a major problem.

I personally don't think any parking should be allowed on Main St. There's plenty of parking on either side of those stores and businesses...and would be a lot safer if that little short street was a "walking - only" area. Most of the stores have back entrances, anyway...so don't see that as a problem for handicapped, etc.

There does not need to be three crossings over that track anyway....remember when that train crashed through the Rebel Rouser ????

It's a lot safer this way.

Just my opinion.

For more on the railroad, go to the following link:(copy & paste)

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/NEWS09/710080373

I am extremely puzzled by this move, yes businesses on main street will suffer! They finally got some of the problems with parking fixed by making it a one way street and now they do this! I went to farmers bank yesterday, and couldn't back out of the street side parking due to the volume of traffic.

Closing the Main St. crossing makes no sense at all. Makes more sense to close the crossing with the 3 way stop which is a dangerous intersection because alot of the time people don't give the ones coming across the tracks the right of way.

concerned

are you talking about Danny's? Just curious because I use him a lot, and if this is so, then I'll confront him on this and he'll lose my business if this is true.

concerned citizen? whew, you scared me there for a minute, your message was next after mine, i started reading your comment and thought you were talkin to me for a second. :o) anyhow, sorry you're seeing that problem, if you'll clue us in maybe we can help

Nobody is suggesting the mainstreet crossing will be permanently closed; but csx has the authority right now.
The city wants it to remain open (I do anyway).
We have to do some checking to see what we can do to fix the situation.

To Concerned----
Oh really? But, isn't it like that with everything in this town? Some people can get away with soooo much, but others not???

Why is it if you own a buisness in this town that you can cuss out and make obscene gestures at woman and kids alike, and then flick a lit cigarette into an 18 yr. old girls car at a stop lite only after screaming at her that the police say that he denied it and they wont even fill iut a report? Just curious. It's not right! Many people in my area have had problems with this individual and it seems that this person is such good freinds with the police that they believe everything this jerk says! Lets just say i'll pick who tows my car if i need it.

ya know, maybe I'm over analyzing something, but, I kinda hate to see the main street crossing dissapear! Seems like we complain and have enough trouble as it is with businesses surviving on main street, will that not further impact the problem? I mean there's quite a bit of traffic that travels down main street to the city hall and other business there, giving main street some much needed exposure. Even though you can go right or left at the end of the street and go through parking lots, it seems like we'll end up with pretty much a "dead end" street! Who knows, maybe I'm just crazy, but it seems that way to me!

Why is it that everytime we have a discussion about something other than sports, it ALWAYS turns that way????? I understand that this town is all about sports. But, come on, we are currently discussing the railroad crossing, not the Panthers, or the Little League Park

Who's Little League park is it? Some people in this town think they own it. Tonight's board meeting was a joke. I think we I will call the Little League in FLA. to see what can be done about the way the park is ran.

Who about that game friday night?

Move it? And just where do they propose to relocate it? Regardless, they need to slow it down.

On the bright side . . . if they do close it down permanently, at least its not a heavily traveled crossing and there are still two crossings that are relatively easy to access.

1.CSX had some troubles with their system I was told.

2. CSX delared that crossing to be unsafe because it had crossings on both sides of a one way street. They want the city to pay half of cost to move it. They told us Friday afternoon.
This all started because some felt the timing on the crossings were unsafe, we contacted the railroad and they got to diggin around and said this crossing is unsafe, even though it has been like this for years.
Could be spite, I do not know.
Now we have to do some checking.
It was a surprise to the city also.

I checked on the railroad crossings when I was on the Council. I had some complaints from citizens that the trains were going too fast.

I think I asked the mayor to check on this back in August or September of 2007. We just last month got the report back from CSX.

In that report, they recommended the City close the railroad crossing on Main St. Whether the City is actually going to do that or not, I do not know. I am not in on those decisions anymore.

Does anyone know what happened to make the train stop this morning? I was second in line at one of the crossing and could see the brakes smoking as the train was stopping.

I'm not sure either. I seen the barriers this morning. Boy, with the train stopping on the tracks like it did sure slowed down the commute we all have to take with out children.